Curblyâ€™s Top Design Fan Club Week 3: Lifeâ€™s a Beach

by DIY Maven
on Feb 15, 2007

After last week’s episode of Bravo TV’s Top Design, worry set in. Had Bravo’s promising new reality TV show turned into a watered down HGTV offering? No! (And thank you, Bravo, for the pics of the hunky carpenters. Grrr!)

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The Task

The remaining contestants were each given a surprise package that contained various beach paraphernalia, which included a post card from three different tropical locales: Miami, St. Tropez and Tahiti. They were then broken up into three groups of three. Oh Joy! A team challenge! You know what that means...drama! And after last week, we needed some.

So, the task was to design and build a cabana, which would be constructed and then dismantled to facilitate a move to the beach, where it would be re-assembled. The teams were given $2k for lumber, fabric and furnishings. The last of which were to be purchased at Pier 1.

The Drama

Carisa, who was on team St. Tropez with Goil and Ryan, turned out to be a pill. Her obsession over the way a particular board should be cut ate into precious time constructing the cabana and annoyed even sweet Goil. And when the contestants moved the show to the beach, poor Carisa was bothered by the sand and the sun and had the nerve to complain about it. We also found out that Ryan has no eye for furnishings as his Pier 1 picks clashed significantly with Goil’s structural design. Or as the judges said, there was no dialogue between the two. The picture says it all.

The Winners and Losers

Team Tahiti, who managed to crank out a tranquil retreat were deemed the winners last night, even though their cabana lacked a roof/ceiling. And, to everyone’s surprise, Michael, the I-don’t-do-manual-labor guy, actually rolled up his sleeves a broke a sweat.

Team Miami-Matt, Erik and Elizabeth-came out on the losing side last night as their choice of colors–acid green and eggplant–were putrid and did not evoke "Miami." As the judges remarked, you only paint something flourescent green if you want to avoid it. Good advice. As Erik had immunity from his last weeks win, Elizabeth was asked to leave.

The Summation

Highlights were Goil’s cool cantilevered cabana (even if it sort of looked like a clothes drying rack), Team Tahiti’s lofted floor and dreamy drapes and Miami’s indoor/outdoor space and louvered walls.